Textual Analysis of Past Students Music Videos- 1

Ben Norris A2 Media Studies Music Video G324 (Sax Rohmer)

Lyrics:
The lyrics play a part to the visuals as there is the line "coming home to you" and the whole video is of the boy walking home.

Music:
The tempo of the music fits with the genre and speed of the editing, plus the visuals in the video. 

Genre:
The genre of the song is singer- song writer which can be seen not only by the song itself but by the fact that the locations are quite bare and minimal props.

Cinematography:
The lighting reflects the mood, atmosphere and meaning of the song. It seems that after then beginning of the video, the filming then gets a but lazy with shaky shots where the camera isn't on a tripod or steady-cam and the lighting is poorer, possibly where the filming was done a bit too late in the day.

Editing:
The editing is in time with the song and consistent throughout apart from when the continuity editing used in the music video is broken where one of the transitions is a fade/ dissolve which makes the edit noticeable and the video looks less professional and random with that edit in.

Intertextuality:
There is a couple bits of intertexuality in this music video. First, the home screen on the phone in the video is of 'Rabbit Proof Fence' and then the boy goes onto the Spotify app, showing post modernism.

Narrative:
This music video only has narrative in it, there is not performance or lip syncing at all which is unconventional for most music videos. The narrative for the video starts well with the text message and music beginning after he has put his headphones in for a bit of story to go with the video. However, the rest of the narrative is just of the boy walking to go with the song saying about going home but more could have been done with the story and been a bit more creative.

Star image/ brand:
The star image isn't shown very well in this video as the majority of it is just him walking and also the audience don't see his face much as there is a lot of filming from behind or the side which isn't the best thing for a music video as people want to see more of the artiste.

Voyeurism:
We are watching/ following the artiste on his journey walking home which may make us feel empathy for him as his dad has cancelled and therefore he had to walk home alone in the cold.

Lyrics Wordle

I made a wordle of the lyrics of the song to make it cleat to me the words that appear more often and I should try to emphasise with the narrative of what I'm showing in the video.

Seeking Permission

For seeking permission I have written a letter to send to Ed Sheeran's management company. Here is what I have sent to them and now am waiting for a reply to grant me permission so I won't face any copyright issues:

Rocket Music Management

1 Blythe Road
London
W14 0GH

Dear to whom it may concern,

I am currently doing A level media and for my coursework I must make a music video. I am writing to you as I am interested in using Ed Sheeran’s song Castle on the Hill and would like permission to use the song for my work.

I appreciate that the song is Ed Sheeran’s and your production company’s intertextual property, I can assure you that I have no intention of making any financial gain from using your track. I have chosen this song as I am a big fan and would like to make my own video for it.

Thank for taking the time to read this letter. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Ball

History of the Song

'Castle On The Hill' was written and performed by Ed Sheeran, released on the 6th January 2017. It was one of the first singles released from the new 'Divide' album along with 'Shape Of You'. When Ed Sheeran announced the release of this album it got a lot off attention on social media. This was because on 13th December 2015 the artiste announced a self-imposed hiatus from social media, due to him finding himself as he said "seeing the world through a screen and not my eyes". Exactly a year after his announcement on the 13th December 2016 he posted pictures of a blank blue square of various social media platforms showing his return and that new music was coming soon.

The song is about Ed Sheeran growing up with his friends in his home town Framlingham. The 'castle on the hill' that is repeatedly mentioned in the chorus of the song is referring to Framlingham Castle.

Brief/ Synopsis/ Pitch

For my music video I was inspired by the way in which the boyband One Direction presented a lot of their earlier music videos. I would like it to be quite fun as the song 'Castle On The Hill' is about growing up with your friends so it should be happy and remind people of their childhood. I want to have a group of teenage boys to play the artiste, Ed Sheeran, and his friends to stick with the narrative and the lyrics. The video will mainly be a montage of shots of the boys having fun around Hadleigh Castle with some lip sincing/ performance included to, enforcing that Ed Sheeran is reminiscing/ telling the story.

Choosing a Song

For my music video I had a few different songs in mind, which were;

• One Direction- Live While We're Young
• Ed Sheeran- Small Bump
• Sam Smith- Stay With Me
• James Arthur- Say You Won't Let Go
• Ed Sheeran- Castle On The Hill

One Direction- Live While We're Young:
I thought One Direction 'Live While We're Young' would be a good song to make the music video for as it is fun and upbeat so would be exciting making a music video for it. I had lots of different ideas that I could use for this song that include narrative and performance. One Direction were a very popular boyband with a very large fan base so the song would also be a popular one to use that has a large target market.

Ed Sheeran- Small Bump:
Ed Sheeran 'Small Bump' would be a good song to make the music video for as it is a song that tells a story so could be shown through narrative and performance to show the emotion in the song. I like this song as I like Ed Sheeran's music and it is a song that has a lot of meaning in the story it's telling showing a lot of emotion.

Sam Smith- Stay With Me
This is another song that I like so would enjoy making a music video for. It is a popular song and would also be good for putting some narrative into the video along with lip syncing from the artiste. In the end I decided to use this song for my prelim as I like how the music is filmed with the lip syncing walking down the road and was a good video to replicate.

James Arthur- Say You Won't Let Go
'Say You Won't Let Go' by James Arthur is one of my favourite songs and I thought this would be good to make a music video for as it tells a story so would be good to put narrative and performance in it, it is also quite an emotional song so a narrative that would go with that could be really effective and draw the viewer into the song to understand the lyrics even more. I have a lot ideas that could work for this song to add to the narrative.

Ed Sheeran- Castle On The Hill:
I have decided for my music video I am going to use the song 'Castle on the Hill' by Ed Sheeran. When I was trying to decide on a song for my video I listened to a lot of different artistes and came to the conclusion I wanted to do an Ed Sheeran song as he is one of my favorite artistes and I like that he writes his songs based on his own life/ experiences/ people he knows so the songs feel more personal. I also feel with his songs I could use some narrative and performance as his songs are normally telling a story. Ed Sheeran is also a very normal person, that appears as quite down to earth and relatable, which is another reason why I enjoy his music and feel the video I make could show his personality from the people I am having in it, so would be suitable of the artiste. I ended up deciding on 'Castle on the Hill' as it is quite an upbeat song of his that I think quite a fun and entertaining music video could be made for, which is the message I want to get across in my video.

Initial Ideas

Initial ideas mindmap:

Initial ideas moodboard: